Tea is the New Black

We interrupt this travel blog for a recipe!

I’m a coffee drinker. In my “youth” I was known to drink an entire Mr. Coffee pot of the real stuff. Just last month, there was nothing sweeter to me than a big tumbler of iced espresso mixed with splenda and soymilk. Yum!

That is until I had my first taste of Masala Tea, then my world tilted ever so slightly.

We had been in Kathmandu for a couple of hours when we headed to the Summit Hotel to get a bite to eat. We were exhausted from three-days of travel and no sleep. We knew we needed to eat and then we knew we needed to collapse. I had enjoyed a few pots of Tea in the lounge at the Doha Airport so when my better half ordered Tea and the waiter asked “Masala?” little did I know that I had said goodbye to coffee.

Masala Tea is the “National Tea” (sort of) of Nepal. It is actually Tea brewed with milk and water with any number of spices that give it its special quality. My first “fix” was poured from a white china pot into small white china cups. It was the color of mocha as it steamed in my hand; and the smell, while faint, was altogether enticing. At first sip, I was in: “You had me at hello.” We later told the manager of the hotel about my utter obsession with this beverage and he offered his “recipe” on how it is brewed. Needless to say we galloped to the grocery, loaded up on milk and loose “cheap” Nepali Tea, and grabbed a couple of bags of different spices so “Cookie” could make it her own (cardamon rules).

How do you brew this you may ask? Here’s where this blog morphs into a cooking blog!! Mix one-half water with one-half milk (soy works nicely I might add); depending on the amount of liquid add loose Tea, the cheaper the better here. Then add some whole spices of your choice: cinnamon, cardamon, coriander, anise, cumin, peppercorns, the sky’s the limit. Bring it to a boil for a few seconds. Take it off the heat to let the boil die down then put it on the flame to boil again. Do this three or four times. After the final boil, put a lid on it to sit a bit. When you are satisfied it is properly steeped, pour through a strainer into a warm mug. I choose to add sugar, which is an acceptable way to drink Masala Tea. (Plus, I am a southern girl that prefers her Tea sweet, whether hot or cold.)

I am quite the regular at the Summit these days, I bring my trusty MacBook here every morning and hang out for the day working. I have my own "special" waiter who brings me a nice pot of Masala Tea every morning, without even ordering. I will attempt to resurrect this habit when I get home to Barbados. But the chill in the air will be replaced with warm humidity and I fear that the location is one of the things that makes this tea taste so special...the location and the sweet waiter. Something tells me I won't be able to get my husband to brew me a pot and serve it to me every morning.

I am going to miss my morning tea.

Namaste